Hey guys, I had a lower PS return line leak, so in the process of replacing it, I also ruined the upper pressure PS line, where they attach to the rack.

I got the lower one out easily, but the upper one would not come out at all. It broke off flush with the rack, and I even threaded a tap into it which also snapped off flush in it. lol

Anyway, the only option I had was to take the whole rack out so I could get the tap out hopefully, and the remainder of the line.

My question is, while I was removing the lower steering shaft, I had to turn the wheel sometimes to get to the bolts. When I was turning it one time (it was really hard to turn, since 1- there's no power steering now, and 2- I didn't jack up the truck so the tires were still on the ground, making it very hard to turn manually.. I know, stupid of me), it felt like something 'stripped', like it was really hard and then all of a sudden the wheel was really easy to turn for a 1/4 turn or whatever it was.

Could I really have damaged the internal gears of the rack just by turning it like that a couple times? Mind you, this rack was absolutely perfect before this, no noises or anything, just like new. I'd hate to get all these new PS lines installed, re-install the rack, shaft, etc, and then come to find out that I damaged it and have to do everything all over again.

Any thoughts? Could I really have damaged it that easily?

Thanks!

 

Anyone have any input? Is there any way I could check if there was damage to the gears inside?

Thanks!

 

Yes.

 

Good to hear. lol

So what would you do? Put this rack back in, or just get new/reman and not take any chances?

 

Guess I should just buy a new rack then. Ugh. There's goes the money for my new rims. lmao

 

I think you more than likely damaged the steering shaft before you damaged the rack

 

How can I damage that though? That's what I thought initially too, because I had removed the bolt that holds the lower shaft onto the rack, but didn't take the shaft off. I figured maybe it just stripped the splines, but there are no splines... it's just got big flat spots, almost like a bolt, so I find it hard to believe it 'stripped' those.

 

There's no way to check the internals of the rack to see if it's damaged, is there?

 

The intermediate shaft has a collapsable design, which unfortunately has only so much torque input to it before it strips interally

 

hmmm, so it may be the collapsable part of the shaft. I sure hope so. I'll check it out and update soon. Thank you!

 

Well from just removing the rubber boot and visually inspecting it, there doesn't seem to be any damage to the shaft. No 'slop' in it either from twisting it back and forth. Doesn't seem like that's the part that 'stripped' at all.